I'll be the Bad Guy

Chapter 13: Sweet Naive Child

What's left of the 100 marches all through the night, finally reaching the crash site of the Ark.

Raven, Finn, Monty, Bellamy, and Murphy lead the group and stop in their tracks, creating a domino effect of bumping into each other. The Ark is finally in view and its huge. Not big- huge. Huge- huge. Like no picture could show the true size of this ship, huge.

The kids stand with their mouths gaping open as they examine the outside of their former home. They had only ever known the small, fluorescent hallways of the inside of the Ark, other than the occasional window that showed an outside wall of the ship in its view.

"There she is." Raven whispers to herself, smiling. Raven was the only one among the 100 that had truly seen the outside of the ship, having worked on it as a zero- G mechanic. Correction- the best zero- G mechanic.

After their surprise simmers down, the 60 of them continue towards the flames and towards their families as they come in sight under the stars, they once called home.

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Back at the grounder camp I'm still left alone, holding onto my torn shirt with my tied hands. I haven't gotten more than 2 hours of uncomfortable sleep since arriving, so I find myself drift off, dreaming my pain away for the rest of the night.

It's too soon when light creeps onto my face and voices rise around my tent.

The large, dark bearded warrior is the first to enter my tent. Strange. He typically follows behind the Commander. He wears something different; it resembles what the Commander wore. It was made of clean, luxurious dark armor that the matched what the Heda had been wearing and he even had her red sash and warpaint coating his cheeks. His pattern was simple and messy, just a thick strip across his eyes.

Furthering my confusion, the Commander walks in behind the warrior only she's wearing no warpaint, no armor and looks younger somehow. Smaller. Weaker. She wears grey rags and has her hair pulled back in a strip of matching grey cloth like a headband. She doesn't appear to have any weapons on her, but I know better. I trace her body trying to find the indent of a hidden dagger. I stare at her some more, finally noticing the smallest knife in her boot. I know there must be at least another given that at any time she wore at least 4 weapons. I continue tracing her body and wardrobe with my eyes before rising to her face. She's staring back at me blankly, a tinge of amusement in her eyes.

"Sorry." I mutter, being the first one to speak.

She continues to look at me, eyeing me back as if it were some type of contest. I feel the burn of her stare and nervously play with my necklace, only realizing its still the piece of metal Finn gave me. I take it off with my still tied hands, setting it on my shirt.

"You didn't put your shirt on last night?" The Commander finally speaks, a spark of curiosity in her eyes.

I purse my lips and raise my tied hands. She immediately recognizes her mistake and turns away, embarrassed. I can tell she doesn't do or say stupid things very often.

She turns back to me after her embarrassment subsides and cuts through my wrist ties.

"Thank you." I tell her. All I get in return is a stony glare. Now I'm embarrassed.

I pull my ripped shirt on, like a jacket, ripping some fabric to make a tie in the front. It almost reminds me of my one- and only-party shirt that I had back on the Ark. It showed just the right amount of skin.